ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – Akovi Davis will definitely have a story to tell when he’s older.
That’s because four days ago, his mother Isis Davis gave birth to him in a car on the side of U.S. 1 in St. Augustine.
Akovi arrived a few weeks early which caught his mother and father by surprise, but thankfully their doula stepped in and knew just what to do.
The family spoke to News4JAX on Thursday and everyone is doing just fine. After all the drama, they can now comfortably say this is exactly how it was supposed to happen.
It started on Sunday when Davis started to feel contractions. As they got worse, she and her husband Anthony Davis knew it was time to call her doula, Tabatha Seppala.
“His heartbeat was nice, regular and steady,” Seppala said of Akovi. “Her vital signs were good. So I was like, let’s move while we can. So we got her into their car. And then Anthony is like, ‘Oh my gosh, I wasn’t expecting a baby. I don’t have any gas.’”
But they took off for the hospital anyways.
“We’re going, and [Seppala] is flying down the road,” Isis Davis said.
Anthony Davis was in the car behind them just trying to keep up.
As they drove from Palm Coast to St. Augustine, Isis Davis started to feel the baby coming.
“She positioned herself almost where she was on her side and one foot was up on the dashboard,” Seppala said. “And I was like, let me pull over. As soon as I get out and walk around to the passenger side, the baby’s crowning. And I was just like, we’re catching a baby here.”
And they did.
Akovi was born and Isis Davis was so relieved.
“All I wanted was just him on me,” Isis Davis said. “I just wanted to make sure that he was OK. We heard his cries. So I was like, OK, good. Get me to the hospital, please.”
But this isn’t this mom’s final push. She wants more birthing centers in the area.
News4JAX pulled up a map and it shows the closest one to her is 30-40 minutes away. The closest hospital is Advent Health, about 11 minutes from her, but there’s no birthing center there. So if you’ve got a baby on the way and you live in that area, you’ve got at least a 30-minute drive.
“It was safe, as safe as we possibly could have made it. But it could have been safer,” Isis Davis said.
The family gave a big shoutout to St. Johns County EMS which arrived just five minutes after the baby made his way into the world. When EMTs got there, they didn’t have much to do but help cut the umbilical cord and get mom to the hospital.
News4JAX reached out to county leaders about the distance people have to have to drive for labor and delivery and they said it’s their understanding, from a conversation with Advent Health, that there aren’t enough births happening in Flagler County to justify the investment of a birthing facility and attracting or retaining doctors in that field to the area.
The Davis family feels a bit different, but they are still so grateful for their little miracle.